UMassHoops.com

The Gazette, and sister papers Greenfield Recorder and Athol Daily News, are laying off staff / reducing hours / cutting pay. One of the layoffs was Josh Walfish, who has been our UMass beat writer.
https://twitter.com/JoshWalfish/status/ ... 3634894848

The publisher's note: https://www.recorder.com/edit-publisher ... 0-33505427
DHG editor's note: https://www.gazettenet.com/Editor-s-note-33525588

Local papers have been hanging on for many years now. Maybe it's a convenient excuse for management to trim costs now, but it's also certainly plausible that ad revenue has been drastically lost quickly.

Bottom line: when we can all get back out there, let's make it a priority to support locally owned businesses. Those are the businesses that advertise with outlets like the Gazette, and in turn keep us fed with UMass sports content from people like Josh.

I wish they could have converted him to news coverage for the short term. There are many stories that need to be chronicled that aren’t being written.

Looking at the advertising in the DHG, I can see why they are cutting back. They’ve stopped publishing their Friday Hampshire Life magazine partially because many advertisers in that section are closed. I counted roughly ten ads in today’s 12-page DHG.

I hope Walfish’s layoff is only temporary. The region needs coverage of UMass Athletics, and UMass Athletics needs coverage of their programs for the region.